Van Kleiss
Van Kleiss is the Leader of The Pack and Abysus. Like Rex, he can control nanites as well as absorb them from other E.V.O.s. However, while Rex's nanites manifest themselves in the form of machinery, Kleiss' nanites take on the forms of nature, such as vines. He is particularly powerful in Abysus, the site of the Nanite Event. There he can control all of the environment, even regenerating himself from plants if he is destroyed. Kleiss wants to take over the world and start a new era for E.V.O.-kind. To help him accomplish this, he has formed a dangerous group of E.V.O.s called The Pack. He claims to know all about Rex and his past, a fact he often uses to try to persuade Rex to join his cause. It is unknown just what Van Kleiss is seeking in exchange, but it's probable that he sees Rex as a military asset that could help him win the E.V.O. war. History In the beginning, Kleiss was a scientist (César calls him a third-rate lab hack) who was doing nanite research with Dr. Gabriel Rylander. When the Nanite Event occurred five years prior to the series' start, Van Kleiss and Rex were both in close proximity to the blast. Afterward, Kleiss discovered that he was gifted with the special unique capability to control nanites, just like Rex. Unlike Rex, however, Van Kleiss' nanites are not stable, and he requires a fresh supply to maintain his form. Consequently, Van Kleiss must periodically absorb the nanites of other E.V.O.s in order to survive. The Day That Everything Changed We are introduced to our antagonist after Skalamander pushes Rex, Bobo, and Noah into the portal to Abysus. He is first seen walking towards the group as little flowers sprout around his feet as he walks. What follows is an eerie scene where he says who he is and who his Pack is and what they are there for. Van Kleiss then directs them to his castle. As all of them are walking through the deteriorated castle Van Kleiss tells that the nanites are a gift, which Rex swiftly disagrees with. Van Kleiss says that "we're not all savages" and that Rex has barely realized his full potential. Rex wonders how he can know about his potential when he doesn't know anything about his past, to which Van Kleiss says he will tell him about his history. He first tells Biowulf to take Noah and Bobo to the Garden. After they leave he leads Rex to a throne room and tells Rex of the Nanite Event. After he finishes Rex asks what that has to do with him, Van Kleiss replies that it has everything to do with him; at which point numerous roots burst through the castle floor and seize Rex. After a cut to the fight in the Garden we return and hear Van Kleiss say that his body is unstable and requires a constant fresh supply of nanites and that Rex's should be very nourishing. Then the 'pins' on his fingers turn into needles and he stabs Rex's chest with them. Noah and Bobo escape the Pack and rush back into the castle, cutting back to the two we hear our antagonist saying that he's dissapointed in Rex for not putting up a fight. Noah and Bobo get back to where Rex and Van Kleiss are, and Bobo says a one-liner and throws a large rock at Van Kleiss, which gives Rex the chance to fight back. He kicks Van Kleiss into a wall and the three flee on Rex's Boogie Back. They have to dodge gigantic roots and trees trying to take them down as they fly away from the castle. Van Kleiss manifests himself through very large trees and asks where Rex is running to, as Providence will just use him as a weapon and lock him up. This causes Rex's nanites to short out and the three crash into the forest. Van Kleiss's final appearance in the episode is the final fight on Abysus. Van Kleiss keeps Agent Six away and the Pack fight as well. But Rex's nanites re-activate and he goes for the final blow on Van Kleiss with his BFS. It hits and Van Kleiss is cut in half, but it is shown as our main characters leave he resurrects himself from his land. String Theory Van Kleiss only appears at the end of the episode but it is clear that he had his Pack kidnap Peter Meechum's daughter Sarah Meechum so that Peter would be forced to work for him. Biowulf reports that Meechum has been cured and Van Kleiss has no outward response. Beyond the Sea Van Kleiss learns from Biowulf (offscreen) that his new recruit Circe, had help from Rex in defeating a sea monster E.V.O. Yet Van Kleiss lets her join anyway intending to use their blossoming relationship to coerce Rex to his side. Leader of the Pack We see Van Kleiss arrive with his Pack in a strange whale blimp E.V.O. Providence, who caught wind of the E.V.O. in restricted air space, has sent units of solders and Rex and Agent Six to intercept it. When it is revealed to Rex who is in the E.V.O. he immediately attacks. He cannot land any blows on Van Kleiss (though he tries) due to his Kleiss's diplomatic immunity. Rex is understandably annoyed at this but until Van Kleiss or one of his Pack break that immunity they are untouchable. We next see him, Biowulf, and Skalamander at a formal party. He greets Rex and Doctor Holiday politely, brushing off Rex's accusations and tells him that "not everything is about you." After Rex is captured he ends the party, thanking all the guests before leaving himself. After that he is seen with The Pack (minus Circe) walking into the UN building. Biowulf tells Van Kleiss that Rex has escaped, but Van Kleiss says it doesn't matter. After an interlude he steps up to the pedestal and addresses all present. As he is speaking he uses his powers to rise above everyone, trap all inside, and begin to cover all of the city in roots. Rex and Van Kleiss fight soon after this, with Rex ultimately figuring out how to defeat Van Kleiss as his native soil is dumped into the East River he becomes significantly less powerful but still summons vines to subdue Rex (by trying to strangle him). But after the soil has diffused too much all the roots and vines wither and break apart, freeing Rex, who then punches Van Kleiss (it was a very good punch too). He stops Rex from killing him by saying that he knows about Rex's parents, which shocks Rex. Van Kleiss then takes the opportunity to flee on a giant fly-like E.V.O. Dark Passage In this episode, Van Kleiss is trying to take control of an Amazon base. He is seen with half The Pack with him. He knocks out Gabriel Rylander a scientist who knows about Rex's past. He is last seen pushed into an unstable nanite reactor and seemingly (as far as we know) vaporized along with Dr. Gabriel Rylander. It is presumed he is dead because Agent Six said "Van Kleiss has been eliminated." But, Agent Six said this according to what he heard from Rex, which is exactly what he tells White Knight. What Lies Beneath Due to what happened to Van Kleiss at the Amazon base, Abysus has become increasingly unstable. Circe, Biowulf, and Skalamander had to lure Rex, Agent Six, and Dr. Holiday to Abysus where the only way to stop the unstable nanites spreading is to power a device that will resurrect Van Kleiss. Rex is forced to do exactly that when everyone else starts to drown in the unstable nanite fluid. When Van Kleiss is revived, he absorbs the unstable nanites into himself and continues, but will only save Rex's loved ones, including Circe, in exchange that Rex promises him his eternal allegiance. Rex eventually does so and when he shakes Van Kleiss' hand, Rex knew that the nanites in him were different now and ends up curing him of the nanites. Van Kleiss had stated that he was "uncurable" until what just happened. Before Rex can bring him in to Providence custody, Breach appeared and got Van Kleiss away from Rex at the last minute while the rest of the Pack escapes. Payback Van Kleiss later returns in "Payback" and some how got back close to his original active nanites giving himself an upgraded bio-mechanical hand(arm), using a spy on a Providence airship Van Kleiss hijacked the ship and crashed it into the Providence base. Van Kleiss drains Rex's nanites giving himself the abillity to turn anyone he touches into a E.V.O. (such E.V.O.'s are marked with a yellow hand print) the opposite effect of Rex's nanites. However, Rex is eventually able to inject himself with a supply of newly active nanites, regained his original powers plus new-and much stronger- ones, and successfully defeated Van Kleiss using a new build, sadly Van Kleiss is able to get away using the explosives planted in the base as a distraction. Rampage Van Kleiss later appeared in the season 2 premier Rampage, he led a attempt to steal a energy core that was to be used to power the Providence HQ. As a distraction he transformed a Shoreman into a E.V.O. and when Rex cured him he turned Noah into an E.V.O. as another distraction. Dr. Holiday later was able to determine that the mutations Van Kleiss creates are unstable and unless his hapless victims are cured within a set amount of time they will become incurable. Before Rex tries can cure Noah, Van Kleiss scares him away. After a chase in a labyrinth of train tracks, Rex confronts and defeats Van Kleiss using yet another new build and Noah's help, however Van Kleiss reveals that he was a third distraction. This one for Breach to steal the energy cell and then she rescues him. Alliance During the events of episode twenty-five "Alliance", Van Kleiss and the Pack ventured into The Bug Jar to forge an alliance with NoFace in order to use him and his E.V.O. army to conquer the world. When Rex was captured by the Pack, Van Kleiss gave him to No-Face to sweeten the deal. However, Rex was able to drive a wedge between No-Face and Van Kleiss: No-Face had wanted to kill Rex whereas Van Kleiss still wanted him alive to figure out how he got his powers back, thus breaking ties with NoFace. Van Kleiss also hinted that he had something on Circe to make sure that she still remained forever loyal to him and not rebel against him, but it did not stop her from quiting at the end of the episode. He may or may not try to get Circe back on side again whether willingly or by force as he had done on countless occasions with Rex to no avail. Mixed Signals During the events of Mixed Signals, Rex accidentally activated César's pod's recall device which took it back to the site of the Nanite Event, Abysus. Though Van Kleiss failed to acquire the pod, he now knows that César survived the Event and intends to acquire his technology for his own twisted ends. César himself described Van Kleiss as a "Third Rate Lab Hack" specifically refering to his role in the Nanite Project. Written in Sand Later, Van Kleiss would lead the Pack (Biowulf and Skalamander only) on a expedition into the desert to find the cause of a Anti Nanite zone created by a sandstorm with the intention of destroying it. Once found by Rex, he and Van Kleiss were trapped underground by a sink hole. Van Kleiss discovered the hard way that his abillity to control the E.V.O.s he creates is failing. He discovers that the reason for this is that the nanites within, along with all vital elements for life, is being crushed from their bodies which is slowly turning both himself and Rex into sand. Saying that they may die, Van Kleiss offers to tell Rex anything about the past and he will answer. Rex refused, saying that he has help from someone who was actually at the Event. Van Kleiss says that he knows it is César and only gives a dire warning, even if Rex won't listen: "Do not ''place your trust in César. He is not the man you believe him to be." Rex asks what does he mean, but he will only say more for something in return. Van Kleiss and Rex begin to bond over by sharing information. Van Kleiss wanting information about the Omega-1 Nanite and Rex wanting information about his past. When Rex asked what started the Nanite Event, he claims that César is responsible for it. Not believing him, he threatens Van Kleiss, who backs up the statement with César's bizarre behavior. They are then attacked by centries created from a mix of nanites and sand and they defeat them by working together. After destroying most of the tunnels, Rex and Van Kleiss find that ZAG-RS is responsible for the sandstorm. Furthermore, Van Kleiss identifies ZAG-RS as a decontamination program designed to prevent stray nanites from exiting the Nanite Tank during the Nanite Project and that César was the one who created it. Rex and Van Kleiss working together are able to defeat ZAG-RS. Afterwards, Van Kleiss disappears and while César believes Van Kleiss had erased ZAG-RS's memory when he stabbed into ZAG-RS's CPU, Rex fears that Van Kleiss's dire warning about César may indeed be true. Personality Van Kleiss is manipulative and clever, seizing opportunities to further his plans and often tries to get anything that he could use to his advantage. He is cold and ruthless when it comes to what he wants, it is evidenced that if one does not comply with Van Kleiss' orders that he'll kill them by draining their nanites for nurishment and put their petrified bodies in his "garden". Van Kleiss talks in a polite manner most of the time, even in battle or taunting his opponents. He also treats the Pack members with high respect, although he will kill them if they ever make him angry enough. However, he merely sees them as a means to and end. He has a bit of a humorous side to him shown in "Leader of the Pack" during his battle with Rex, where he stopped in mid-battle just to ask Rex why was he "taking out his frustrations on a wall". However, Van Kleiss' polite attitude is just a way to hide the darker side of his personality, but it was been able to trick many people at first (including Rex, Bobo, Noah, and the U.N. delegates) before seeing his malevolent nature. In "Leader of the Pack", he is shown to be an apt planner, secretly putting his nanite infused soil under the city to make himself as powerful as he is in Abysus as he attempts to take over the UN. He keeps a level head nearly all of the time, even in a situation when the odds are against him. He has a strong dislike toward Providence. He stated he does not like them meddling with his plans, however shows a polite attitude toward Dr.Holiday when she tries to keep Rex from starting a fight. Also, he does not like the fact that people see Providence as "saviors", while Van Kleiss sees himself as the true "savior". In the episode "Leader of the Pack", he purposely did not announce his arrival in New York City or about his diplomatic immunity, so that Providence would attack him and his henchmen, just for the purpose of humiliating them. Relationships The Pack Biowulf ''See also: Biowulf Biowulf is the second in command of the Pack and is leader of all the missions outside Abysus, seeing as Van Kleiss is limited to his home. Biowulf is very loyal to Van Kleiss. However, he is showing signs of tiring of Biowulfs continued failures and thus has begun drifting away from him. Breach See also: Breach Breach is a very useful asset to the Pack given her special abilities and powers. The only reason why Van Kleiss wants her with him at all times and not the others is that he can easily escape through her dark red-colored portals if needed. However, the nature of her powers still allow her to rescue the Pack if necessary. Skalamander See also: Skalamander He is the group's brute force and has great defensive capabilities. Circe See also: Circe She had evidently tried to join the Pack on her own. Her apparent use to Van Kleiss is that Rex wants to be closer to her. And her incredible capability to attract and summon other E.V.O.s. she is quite possibly his third in command although this is unsure as she was not part of the systematic attack on Providence. Either that or she was in charge of safeguarding Abysus during the major attack on Providence. He may or may not try to get Circe on side again by force as he had done on countless occasions with Rex to no avail. Since she left the Pack, he will have to find a replacement E.V.O. for her. Jungle Cat E.V.O. See also: Jungle Cat E.V.O. An E.V.O. who showed promise, but after he accidentally destroyed Van Kleiss's nanite dirt suit in "Dark Passage." He is then petrified by Van Kleiss who drained nanites and which turned him to stone. Then his stone form is knocked to the ground by Biowulf. Rex Salazar See also: Rex Van Kleiss's true relationship with Rex is unknown as of now. He claims to know about Rex's past and his family but will only reveal this if Rex willingly joins him. They have already fought each other several times and Rex is determined to take Van Kleiss down. He also claims that Rex is very important to him, for what reason though remains a mystery. Although Rex is very important to him, he notes that he will kill Rex if he keeps getting in his way. The two have been shown ready to kill each other, but so far they have been interrupted each time. It seems that Rex is not his main target, but could be a primary target, since he stated to Rex that "it is not always about you." In episode twenty-five "Alliance" it is revealed that while he does indeed want Rex alive he is only interested in his body, not his mind, and does not seem to care all at if Rex's mind, subconscious, thoughts, feelings, memories, and emotions are destroyed which would probably leave Rex in a permanent comatose state and might not be able to recover and which might possibly even kill him. It also might leave Rex's body as an empty shell, without emotion, awareness or free will. Gabriel Rylander See also: Gabriel Rylander They evidently worked together on research for the Nanite Project five years prior before the series began. They come face to face again in episode nine "Dark Passage" where he stops Rylander from telling Rex key information about his family by stabbing him with the needles on his bio-mechanical hand. Van Kleiss tells Rylander he knows nothing of truth, or loyalty and that he will continue the research they had started on his own. Rylander saved Rex from further harm when he was down by knocking both himself and Van Kleiss into the unstable Nanite Reactor, desinegrating them both. Rylander is assumed to be dead, while Van Kleiss was able to be revived. César Salazar See also: César Van Kleiss is shown to be greatly displeased by César's unexpected and miraculous return. The feeling is more likely mutual as César called him a "third-rate lab hack". In episode thirty-three "Written in Sand", Van Kleiss reveals that César himself is the one responsible for the release of incomplete nanites that were purposefully allowed to roam free into the atmosphere five years. He proves this statement by giving a disbelieving Rex a dire warning about César, saying that he is not to be trusted and that he is not who Rex believes him to be-his older brother. Appearance He is tall and broad. He is middle aged, yet sounds highly educated and intelligent. He is always clad in dark clothes and boots that seem to be a part of him as it regrows as he does when he resurrects himself. He has several apparently mechanical parts from his right arm to his chest. The most notable is his large golden, bio-mechanical hand that he uses to drain nanites from other E.V.O's. The tips of the fingers end in large, blunt 'pins', only when he's about to feed do the 'pins' extend into needles. The outer band of his bio-mechanical hand glows bright yellow when he is feeding as well. After being cured, Van Kleiss's hand was fully restored back into a normal hand. He created an upgraded version of his bio-mechanical hand that he now sports. Also, after Rex cured him, he has been unable to control nature, as he once did. His new power is in creating E.V.O's from people who are normal. He can turn a normal man into an E.V.O just by touching him/her. His hand also stretches some 10-30 feet, and he can turn a lake of water into a solid chunk of compressed, frozen block of land, as seen in "Alliance". The clothes he wears are probably the clothes he wore in the laboratory, which was when the nanite event ocurred. The other inorganic parts of him are a large circular yellow hole in his chest that is linked to a large metal collar and possibly down to his right hand. These are no doubt functional for something. His face is long and drawn under the eyes, which are a dark red with black/white rings surrounding them. In "Leader of the Pack" he was shown with a black suit, and his hair slicked back during a formal event. Powers and Abilities Former Special Abilities and Powers In his homeland of Abysus he is extremely strong and powerful. He is able to control and manipulate the whole environment and summon strong roots, vines, and creepers that can grab, hold up things, and aid his movement at will. He could even make it rain at just one spot. He can do all this, as the whole land is seeded with his own nanites. He can also form the roots out of his body and use them as makeshift offensive weapons. While in Abysus, he seem to be immortal and can regenerate himself no matter how great the wound. He is so strong and powerful in Abysus, that his enemies would not dare attack him there. Providence once sent an army to save Rex in Abysus, but in the end they were all wiped-out with ease. Six is the only survivor of the rescue team. Though more of a survival mechanism than a power, Van Kleiss can also use his bio-mechanical hand to drain the nanites out of other E.V.O.s, resulting in the E.V.O. being petrified and turned into a stone statue. On trips out of Abysus, he is seen transporting Abysus-infused soil with him. It is show that he would die without his nanite-infused soil, or at least be severely weakened. Van Kleiss is shown to control an army of E.V.O.s under his command. His most strongest and most powerful and elite E.V.O.s are formed into a group known as "the Pack". It is currently unknown how he is able to control the less intelligent E.V.O.s, while more intelligent ones could have been "persuaded" to join his cause. His body also acts has an organic stabalizer for the highly unstable nanites in Abysus. Dr Holiday theoriesd that he was bonded to them at the molecular level and as a result Rex killing him made them more unstable. Indeed withought him the nanites turn visious and begin to eat Abysus from the inside out and become roaving swarms of black goo. He is also has some awarenes of the unstable nanites in Abysus. When Rex is forced to revive him due to the fact his body is the only one that can safely handle them he is momenterly disabled when he comes in to contact with the unstable machines. While Rex tries to explain what is going on he dismisess him with a pained grunt before saying "I know what this is". Composing himself, the nanites are pulled back in to his body and abysus restabalises. Current Special Abilities and Powers After being cured by Rex, Van Kleiss loses all of his original powers and capabilities as an E.V.O., but claims he still has his greatest strength and power, his intellect. When he reappears later, rather than his hand, his entire arm is gold-colored bio-mechanical. It has the power and ability to lengthen and stretch out, though the limitations of this are unknown. It also possesses superhuman strength as it is able to lift Agent Six during their brief battle in "Payback", and easily punch through solid rock. In "Rampage" he demonstrated the capability to fire a multitude of sharp-edged gold-colored projectiles from his bio-mechanical arm at incredible speeds. After absorbing all of Rex's active nanites (excluding the large abnormal silver-and-gray-colored control nanite injected by Dr. Rylander) Van Kleiss is able to create ''E.V.O.s, as opposed to curing them. These E.V.O.S. are marked with a bright golden-colored handprint where he grabbed them, in addition to this the E.V.O.s he creates are highly unstable and if not cured in time will become incurable. He is also incredibly agile. Gallery : ''Main Article: Van Kleiss/Gallery Trivia * Van Kleiss has many similarities to the classical vampire Dracula. He is very difficult to kill and can resurrect himself as well. He has to lethally feed off of others to survive and can only live on his native soil. ** Van Kleiss drains nanites from the Pack members if any of them don't match his expectations. ** Van Kleiss's powers could be considered the opposite of Rex's powers. While Rex can control and form machines, Van Kleiss can control and form nature. Later, Van Kleiss would gain a new power that is the opposite of Rex's powers, while Rex cure EVOs and turn them back to normal, Van Kleiss turn living being into EVOs ** It was noted by Six that Providence knew about Van Kleiss and the Pack before Rex joined them. However, they never caused any problems before, but Providence still kept their eye on them. ** Van Kleiss is the first character in the series to be seen bleeding. ** Van Kleiss appears to have lost his regenerating and nature generating abilities after being cured by Rex. He can, however, control the length of his mechanical hand. ** His claw is most likely based off of Freddy Krueger from the slasher film series. Van Kleiss was even doing Freddy's trademark "Wall scratch" in Rampage. ** Despite losing his original powers in "What Lies Beneath", he claims in "Written in Sand' that he has retained his nanite hunger. ** In "Written in Sand," it seems that Van Kleiss is annoyed that Rex is always the first one to accuse him of evil, whether or not he actually did anything. Van Kleiss is revealed to know that Rex has the almighty Omega-1 Nanite and he learns about Rex's new machines while they were talking. He does not trust César, possible because of their differences they had in the past and his miraculous reappearance may cause some problems in the future. It would also seem that he knew Rex's parents, well enough to say that Rex takes after his mother, Violeta. Category:Villains Category:Characters Category:Human E.V.O.s Category:E.V.O.s Category:The Pack Category:People at the Nanite Event Category:Cured E.V.O.s Category:Males